These last few years of the pandemic have been an interesting time. While I would definitely hope to not do it again any time soon, there are a few things that have come out of the pandemic that have been amazing. One of those are the various virtual photographer hangouts I have been invited to, and the amazing people I have met through them. In one of these Zoom hangouts I met William Snyder, who was on the show with his Stevie Ray Vaughn album cover image, and in the same hangout I was also introduced to legendary Reuters photographer Gary Hershorn.

When talking about Gary’s career as a photojournalist you can get lost in the story alone, and then once you add his images to the story you are seemingly transported to amazing historical moments in time.

Gary is a Canadian photographer and picture editor based in New York City, and his 43 year career began in 1979 at United Press International, in Toronto. By 1985 he was working at Reuters, as Chief Photographer, Canada, before moving to Washington, DC. in 1990. In his time at Reuters, Gary filled the roles of Senior Photographer, Picture Editor-Americas, and Global Sports Pictures Editor. He led major event coverage of the 9/11 attacks on the WTC, Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti Earthquake, along with covering numerous news, sporting championships and entertainment events around the world.

Since leaving Reuters in 2014, he has worked as a photo editor for Flipboard, was the photo editor at FOXnews.com for 3 years and presently works in news curation for Facebook. In addition he is a contributing photographer for Getty Images. For those 43 years Gary has been photographing history, he has been taking us there with him in the process.

In the summer of 2011, as the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center approached, he began a photography project documenting New York City, the ever-changing skyline of the city as it entered a construction boom and began pairing the skyline of the city with various celestial events that happened in the skies over New York City. This work continues and led to the publication of the book “New York Celestial” in 2019. If you follow Gary on Instagram you will find one of the most inspirational feeds there is. I show Gary’s current work to someone almost daily, and could study his photojournalistic work just as frequently. Today, I am excited to share one of his most historic images with you.

Join legendary photojournalist, and all around great photographer, Gary Hershorn and me as we discuss what it was like to photograph the 2008 Obama Election Night Rally for Reuters, on this Behind the Shot.

(The Obama photo featured in this episode is provided courtesy of Reuters, and is Copyright Reuters)

Website: garyhershorn.com

New York Celestial: newyorkcelestial.com

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Andy Sharp: andy-sharp.com | @andybobsharp